After Gerrit Cole’s 93-pitch, six-inning start against the Phillies, I briefly mentioned that I thought it was interesting that Clint Hurdle was getting Cole out of games pretty quickly after back-to-back starts in which he threw 100+ pitches. In five starts since then, Cole threw 106, 106, 107, 106, and 114 pitches. Seeing that, maybe it’s not a surprise that the Pirates put him fifth in the rotation out of the break since that essentially skips a start for him. Also possibly notable: Cole only dipped below six strikeouts once in his first 13 starts, ending with that start against the Phillies. In the five since then, he’s had four, five, six, five, and three strikeouts. I don’t think this is a big deal — those last two starts came against teams that were tough to strike out, and certainly his velocity, stuff, etc. all seem to look fine. I do think that it’s possibly worth paying attention to, especially given the way the Pirates are using him out of the break.
Anyway, the Pirates are trotting out another half-lineup tonight, this time to face Jason Vargas. Vargas hasn’t pitched since June with a flexor problem, and he wasn’t particularly great before then. I’d tell you that a Gerrit Cole vs. Jason Vargas matchup is a pretty promising one, but the back half of the Pirate lineup includes Pedro Alvarez vs. a lefty, Brent Morel, and Sean Rodriguez. And the front half of it is fine, except Gregory Polanco is leading off vs. a lefty.
Then again, Travis Ishikawa bashed the Pirates to a win last night and got Yordano Ventura demoted to Triple-A, so who knows? First pitch is at 8:10.
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